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JERICHO – As a young wrestler, Ben Bliss aspired to be like Mount Mansfield Union High School standout Robert Hamlin, the four-time state champion who went on to compete at Division I Lehigh University.

"It's pretty cool to have a guy from your same school do it," Bliss said. "Here in Vermont we don't get a lot of that, we're not exposed to it as much."

Now an MMU star in his own right, Bliss made the next move on a very similar route to collegiate wrestling on Thusrday, signing his own national letter of intent to join Bucknell in the fall.

The Lewisburg, Pa., school is about 100 miles from where Hamlin left his mark as an NCAA runner-up in 2011 and 2013.

Bliss, a two-time state finalist and champion as a sophomore, said he also had interest from D-I Binghamton and Franklin & Marshall, and Trinity (D-III), among other colleges, but the Bison were his top-choice program.

"The school is just awesome. It's a beautiful campus," Bliss said. "The coaching staff is great, they're super nice guys. Their whole thing is about lifestyle, wrestling is not so much a sport as it is a lifestyle so everything in your life has to be perfect — nutrition, everything — and I really liked that."

Bliss adds his name to the short list of Division I wrestlers to come out of Vermont in recent years, including Mount Anthony's Jesse Webb (Ohio) and Ben Price (Binghamton), as well as Hartford's Nolan Viens (Sacred Heart).

"I have a real passion for the sport — I want to do whatever it takes to succeed and I think that's a big part of it," Bliss said. "Because at the Division I level, so I've heard, it's hard to get motivated that first year when you're just getting pounded all the time.

"The competition is so much higher than what you're going to be used to that a lot of people are just shocked from it."

MMU coach Harley Brown, who also coached Hamlin to the four Vermont titles sand three New England crowns, doesn't believe that grind will faze Bliss.

"He's really focused — more so than probably any other kid I've coached," Brown said. "They know they're getting a good kid. He went out there and rolled around in the room and showed that he could compete at that level."

"He won't get out-worked. There might be some kids from other places that have more quickness (or) more strength, more technique, but I think he's going to be the one that will be there when the other ones (struggle)," Brown said.

Contact Austin Danforth at 651-4851 or edanforth@freepressmedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/eadanforth